Has anyone had any experience of this getting to the message exhaust filter over limit service now? 
I rang the dealer but can’t get the car looked at today with it being a Sunday, so I was wondering if it would be worth taking the car on an hour drive down the motorway now or is it to late once this message comes up? 
I have tried the motorway drive in the past but like most people in here it only solves the problem for a short amount of time .

21 hours ago, Ryan95 said:

Has anyone had any experience of this getting to the message exhaust filter over limit service now? 
I rang the dealer but can’t get the car looked at today with it being a Sunday, so I was wondering if it would be worth taking the car on an hour drive down the motorway now or is it to late once this message comes up? 
I have tried the motorway drive in the past but like most people in here it only solves the problem for a short amount of time .

My 68 is now over 3 years old and yesterday this message came up again! Cure as always is to drive and then de-accelerate.

When will Ford get their act together and do something about this obvious design error, in my honest opinion "NEVER" Ford will just brush it under the design office carpet and correct the error on the next model.

The same error message telling me that the filter was at max drive to clean showed itself on my 68 plate as usual when the ambient temp dropped below 8 celsius and continues to alert me every day, but now I have a new experience. Driving at anywhere between 30mph and 45mph in 4th gear I can feel a stutter from the engine, acceleration and tickover are fine.

I took the car now out of warranty to a mechanic I trust, he plugged his diagnostic system into the car and the only fault that showed was that the DIESEL PARTICULATE FILTER had issues. This is a petrol engine so i can only imagine Ford could not even be bothered changing the code to represent a petrol engine, no surprise. The mechanic suggested changing the plugs but unfortunately none could be sourced, his other suggestion to take it on a long journey maintaining around 2k revs, going to book  a Travel lodge in the north of Scotland for a night see the sights.

Maybe Ford can use that as a sales pitch "Buy a Ford Focus 1 litre with a GPF and enjoy driving more miles than you ever expected because you'll need to".

It’s going to be a problem on all modern cars if you only do short journeys. These are emission systems present on all makes. 
 

You’d be better off going electric. 

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

You’d be better off going electric. 

Ford have stated their aim to sell only cars with a plug in Europe by 2026, so we soon won't have a choice anyway!😀

https://www.ford.co.uk/experience-ford/ford-blog/electrification-2030

It's a good job the car is a nice drive as the majority of our miles are needless.

3yrs old in March and approaching 16k, it had approx 4k on it when we bought it.

It's a software update on the GPF issue. Had that on mine 2018 Mk4 Focus 1.0 EcoBoost and have never had a message "Drive to clean...etc" after that.

See the software details I added earlier in the history 

Andrew,

I sent your message and loads of other info regarding this issue to Ford UK and there response was, let me think "NOTHING". I spoke to my local Ford dealer they said "we know nothing about it".

Yes Alex if I had 40k upwards I would consider an electric vehicle but when you buy a vehicle that you like the looks of and the figures tell you it is economical and then you find that the figures were wrong, whoops am I talking about a VW no it's a Ford, so who is the fool.

I honestly think this is down to a software update, once the temperature dropped below 8 degrees within 3 days of a long motorway drive, my MY18 would display the "Drive to clean" message

My car was in and out of the local dealership for warranty work and they advised me that to try to solve some of the issues i was experiencing with my car, they updated the PCM, ECU and BCM

Ever since this update, even in -10Degree weather with short distance driving, my car has never displayed this message again

well had my Focus Vignale 1.0 ecoboost for nearly a month, 17,024 miles on the clock and today I saw the Exhaust filter message… I received a 6 month warranty from Ford upon purchase, so have contacted the dealership to ask if they cover this.

Just an update, I contacted  the Sales Executive at Ford Lookers Sheffield who sold me the car and supplied the 6 month warranty,,, Date of Purchase 15/10/23

this is his reply

 

”

Hi Keith,

 

All is well here, I hope you are too.

 

With regards to something like that the honest answer is I am unsure, the best thing to do would be to call the warranty company and see what they say, I don’t want to say it is if it isn’t and it is not something I have come across before.

 

I am really sorry I have been of no help here Keith.

 

Kind Regards,”

 

 

14 minutes ago, Keith13661 said:

Just an update, I contacted  the Sales Executive at Ford Lookers Sheffield who sold me the car and supplied the 6 month warranty,,, Date of Purchase 15/10/23

I expect you will need to wait until next October before you can make a claim 🤣

33 minutes ago, unofix said:

I expect you will need to wait until next October before you can make a claim 🤣

Pedantic!! 

14 minutes ago, iantt said:

Pedantic!! 

who,  me ?  ....... never 🤣

18 minutes ago, unofix said:

who,  me ?  ....... never 🤣

Pants on fire !! 

Contacted Ford U.K. who have been back in touch and asked me to get it into my local Ford dealer for a diagnostic, they will then look at what they can do to hopefully resolve the issue. 
 

let’s see where that leads

17 minutes ago, Keith13661 said:

Contacted Ford U.K. who have been back in touch and asked me to get it into my local Ford dealer for a diagnostic, they will then look at what they can do to hopefully resolve the issue. 
 

let’s see where that leads

Free diagnostic?  Or is this the usual CS fob-off where you have to pay and they 'might' reimburse the money in future if they can't get out of doing so? 

5 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Free diagnostic?  Or is this the usual CS fob-off where you have to pay and they 'might' reimburse the money in future if they can't get out of doing so? 

Yes Ford Lookers have agreed to pay for the diagnostic, and any forthcoming updates, it is getting done at my local lookers and they are invoicing the one I bought it from.

Update: 

My car went into Lookers Ford at Dunston Gateshead today for the Exhaust Filter issue, a diagnostic was carried out and the PCM was updated, also a regeneration of the filter. The cost of which was invoiced directly to Ford Lookers at Sheffield. Whilst on the diagnostic the service manager rang me to notify me the oil life is down to 16% so the vehicle is due a service, however he believes that as I have had the car only two months, and had the problem with the exhaust filter the cost of the service will be put to the Sheffield branch, the result is they have agreed to cover the cost of all the work carried out and the service. 
 

Well Done Lookers 

Good to hear a positive result from a dealership!

 

4 hours ago, Keith13661 said:

My car went into Lookers Ford at Dunston Gateshead today

That sounds like a good result from them. I might well try them for my next service as they are only 20 miles from me.

19 hours ago, unofix said:

That sounds like a good result from them. I might well try them for my next service as they are only 20 miles from me.

I have to give them 11 out of 10 ….. very impressed at the honesty of the guy that dealt with me, he openly admitted that Lookers were under scrutiny to resolve the issue after I had contacted Ford U.K. direct. Lesson is, don’t sit back and let franchises get away with things, fight your corner. 

My Final Update on this topic, I can confirm now that the PCM update has seemed to have resolved this issue, the car is running properly again, no Exhaust Filter Warnings. One thing I have observed is my MPG has gone back into the 40’s…. When the fault was showing it dropped right off.

A huge thanks to Ford U.K. who not only got it resolved, but have sent me a £150 Ford voucher to be redeemed against future parts, servicing etc. 

 

so I can only say if anyone gets this issue on a low mileage petrol car… don’t mess around trying to run up and down motorways to clear the message…. It’s there because there is a fault …… in this case a software issue.